Steam-engine



(No Model.)

W. ESTY.

STEAM ENGINE.

No. 367,029. Patented July 26, 1887.

WilllhmEsl, by M Mw At orney.

WMWM.

N. PETERi Phow-mm w, Wuhinton, o. c.

NITED STATES PATENT Fries.

\VILLIAM ESTY, OF LACONIA, NElV HAMPSHIRE, ASSIGNOR OF T\VO-THIBDS TO LEWIS F. BUSIEL. OF SAME PLACE, AND GEORGE W. SHERVVELL, OF LAKE VILLAGE, NE\V HAMPSHIRE.

Y STEAM-ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 367,029, dated July 26, 1887. Application filed April 14, 1887. Serial No. 234,802. (No model.)

To alt whom it may concern: the axis of the oblique portion B of the shaft Be it known that I, \VILLIAM EsrY, of Lawhen said shaft is revolved. conia, in the county of Belknap and State of The pistons D D are hollow cylinders hav- 50 New Hampshire, have invented a new and ing both ends closed, one endbeing cast in usefullrnprovementinSteanrEngines,of which and the other being closed by a screw-plug the following, taken in connection with the having formed thereon a ball, 0, to which is accompanying drawings, is a specification. fitted the sockctcd shoe (1, the flat side of which My present invention is an improvement rests against the annular flat surface act the 5 r upon the engine described in Letters Patent hemispherical crank-sleeve E. I to No. 355,814, granted to me January 11, 1887, An annular casting, F, is bolted to the end and has for its object the production of a more of the cylinder-casting A opposite to the valveeffective and reliable thrust-bearing for the seat O, and has formed therein a portion of a shaft, which I have found to be very desirable hemispherical chamber, F, and a short cyliu- 60 when the engine-shaft is used as a screw-prodrieal opening, F, through its center, which peller shaft; and it consists in certain novel is closed or covered by the cup-like casting G, features of construction, arrangement, and bolted to the casting F, and having set in its combination of parts relating particularly to center the stud H, having at its inner end a the-crank end of the engine, all of which will concave head made to fit the spherical surface 65 be readily understood by reference to the de of the crank-sleeve E and adapted to receive scription of the drawings and to the claims to the endwise thrust of the shaft B.

be hereinafter given. I is the counterweight-lever mounted upon Figure 1 of the drawings is a central vertithe stud H, about which it is revolved when cal longitudinal section of my improved enthe shaft B is revolved by the action of the 70 gine. Fig. 2 is a partial elevation of the valve, crank-pin f, which enters a hole formed in the 5 and Fig. 3 is a transverse section through one light arm of said lever, as shown.

side of the valve and the compressionring en- The crank-sleeve E, instead of being made larged. with radial arms and connected to the pistons 1n the drawings, A is the cylinder-casting, by connecting-rods and ball-and-socketjoints, 75 having formed therein a series of cylinders, as as in my prior patent, is a hollow casting in a a, &c., preferably six in number, arranged the form of a hemisphere pierced with a hole in a circle concentric with the axis of the shaft at right angles to the flat or equitorial plane B and with their axes parallel to the axis of of said hemisphere, said hole being fitted with said shaft, substantially as described in the a composition bushing, g, to fit the oblique So Letters Patent before cited. portion B of the shaft B, as shown. The valve-seat O and all of the parts shown The outer wall of the casting A is discouin Fig. 1 of the drawings to the left thereof nected from the walls of the cylinders a a, &c., except the valve are constructed, arranged, at theend next the casting F, so that the anand operate substantially as described in said nular exhanstchamber b communicates with 8 5 prior patent, and thereforewill need no further the hemispherical chamber F, and through it description here. with the space inside the circle of cylinders,

The cylindeneasting A is made somewhat and thence through the spaces between the longer than the sanie part was made in said ring-valve and its hub to the chamber surprior patent, and has the end h of its central rounding the reversing-gear and the stern o hub and all that portion of said casting inside bearing J, said exhaust-steam finally escaping of the annular exhaust-chamber I) made conifrom the engine through the pipe K. By this cal, the angle of said conical surface being a construction and arrangement of parts I have right angle to an imaginary cone described by produced a very efficient and durable thrust- I 2 scioze hemispherical concave formed in the casting F and the end of the head of the stud H, as shown. As the pistons D D are not connected to the hemispherical sleeve, if the steam should be completely exhausted from the cylinders their pistons would be liable to pound or hammer the heads of the cylinders as they were moved inward after the steam was exhausted; but the exhaust-ports are so constructed relative to the strokes of the pistons that somesteam remains in each cylinder when its exhaustport is closed by the inward movement of its piston, and, instead of allowing such remaining steam to escape freely into the annular chamber of the ring or disk valve, as inmy before-mentioned prior patent, I throttle the escape of this remaining steam through steamport by means of the adj ustable annular compression-ring m, provided with a male screwthread on its inner periphery, which fits a corresponding female thread in the outer Wall of the annular rectangular groove it, formed in the face of the valve J, as shown. In the bottom of the groove n is formed a series of holes, 0, to receive the end of the locking-pin p, which is screwed into the ring m and enters one of said holes to lock the ring against accidental displacement when once properly set.

By setting this ring m so that it will almost touch the valve seat, the remnant of steam left in the cylinder after the exhaustport is closed will escape so slowly as to serve as a cushion for the piston and prevent it pounding the cylinder-head.

WVhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the-United States, is

1. In a steanrengine, the combination of a series of cylinders arranged in a circle, with their axes parallel, ornearly s0, a piston arranged to work in each of said cylinders, a shaft mounted in bearings, with its axis equidistant from each of said cylinders and having a portion thereof at one end oblique to its main body, a hemispherical crank sleeve or casting mounted upon the oblique portion of said shaft, with its flat face toward said cylinders, a hemispherical socket or abutment fitted to the spherical side of said crank sleeve or ofits length oblique to its main body, a heniispherical crank sleeve or casting mounted upon said oblique portion of the shaft with its flat side in contact with said conical sun faces, a casing inclosing said hemisphere and having its interior in the form of a'section of a sphere fitting closely the convex surface of said hemispherical crank-sleeve casting, a piston fitted to each of said cylinders, a shoe fitted to each of -said pistons by a ball-andsocket joint and having a flat side to bear against the fiat side of said hemispherical crank sleeve or casting.

3. The combination of the casting A, having formed therein a series of cylinders arranged in a circle, a piston arranged in each of said cylinders, the shaft B, having the oblique portion B and crank-pinf, the hemispherical crank-sleeve E, the casting F, having its inner surface in the form of a section of a sphere, the stud H, set in the casting G,

and having its inner or headed end concaved to fit the convex surface of said hemispherical crank-sleeve E, the counter-balance I, and the socketed shoes (1 d, all constructed, arranged, and adapted to operate substantially as described. p

4. In a steam-engine, the combination of a series of cylinders arranged in a circle, each having one open end, a casing inclosing the open ends of all of said cylinders and having formed therein a hemispherical chamber or bearing-surface, an oscillating hemisphere fitted to said casing and adapted to be moved in any direction therein about the center of its flat side or equatorial plane, and a piston fitted to each of said cylinders and arranged to act against the flat side of said hemisphere to move it without beingattached thereto.

5. In a steam-engine, the combination of a cylinder-casting having formed therein a series of cylinders arranged in a circle and all open at one end, and provided between'said open ends with a conical bearing-surface, a casing inclosing the open ends of said cylinders and said conical bearing-surface and having its inner surface in the form of a segment of a hollow hemisphere, an oscillating hemisphere fitted to said casing with its flat side in contact with said conical bearing-surface, a piston in each of said cylinders, and a socketed shoe mounted-upon each of said pistons and provided with a fiat side arranged to bear against the flat side of said hemisphere.

6. In a steam-engine, the combination of a series of cylinders arranged in a circle, and each provided with a steam-port in its end and an exhaust-port in its side, a piston fitted to reciprocate in each of said cylinders, a ringvalve arranged to open and close said steamports and control the admission of steam to said cylinders by its outer or peripheral edge and permit the escape of steam through the same ports past its inner edge, and an adjustable compression' ring secured to said valve and adapted to throttle the escaping steam In testimony whereof Ihave signednly name and cause it to serve as a cushion for the pisto this specification, in the presence of two sub- IO scribing Witnesses, on this 28th day of March,

7. The valve J, provided with the threaded A. D. 1887. annular rectangular groove n and the series of holes 0, in combination with the threaded \Vitnesses: ring m and the locking-pin all constructed and arranged substantially as described.

\VILLIAM ESTY.

S. R. SANBORN, CHAS. E. LEAVITT. 

